The Mapmaker's Mapmaking Guide
for
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
by admiralhowdy
howdyadmiral@yahoo.com
Version 0.66
December 25, 2007
Copyright 2007 Matt Ehinger
Table of Contents
-----------------
Introduction
Building Environments
The Basics
Doors and Teleporters
Platforming
The Amazing Strudel
The Environmental Puzzle
The Mysteries of Memory, Revealed (more or less)
ITEM Memory
TILE Memory
LOGIC Memory
Story AI Memory
Tile Sets
Military
Lab
Egyptian
Horror
Virtual
Story AI
AI Classes
Normal Class
Zombie Class
Robot Class
Individual Characters
Some Notes on Weapons Use
Map Considerations for Multiplayer Bots and Story AI
Building "Bot-friendly" Maps
Runners
Exclusive Weapon Sets for Multiplayer Bots
Using Character Abilities
Multiplayer Bots Character Abilities Analysis
Abilities/Punishment Table
Notes on Abilities
Logic
Counters
Logic and Story AI
Creating Story Awards
Some things to watch out for
Assault Maps
Glitching!
Further Reading
Random Things
To access all pics in this guide, open a 2nd internet browser
window, and copy/paste the following line to the 2nd window's
address bar:
z13.invisionfree.com/admiralhowdy/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=
then immediately after the last "=", copy/paste the number of each
pic to complete the url of each pic.
Introduction
------------
This super in-depth guide is intended as an aid in maximizing the
use and enjoyment of the Mapmaker mode of TimeSplitters: Future
Perfect.  The whole, in concept, should be both a resource and a
springboard for ideas.  It is written using the Nintendo Gamecube
version, but most of the information contained here should be just
as relevant to the other console versions.
Once you have the game powered up and have selected the Mapmaker
mode, most of the options and operations within the mapmaker are
self-explanatory (take the time to study the Controls page, and pay
attention to the ever-present button layout on each and every
options page -- buttons will gain/lose function depending on what
the cursor is placed over).  But despite the straightforwardness of
the controls and the options that can be selected, there are many,
many things that can be chosen, created, and/or customized, and the
results of your choices can be quite difficult to predict without
rigorous experimentation--trial and error.  It can be a real
challenge to take what's in your head, input it into the matrix, and
have it come out looking and acting any way near the way you
originally intended.  This guide is meant to help.  If you have
knowledge that can benefit other mapmakers, my wish is that it might
be compiled here to be shared by all.  I've started with what I know
so far, but if you would like to share your own knowledge, please
consider submitting it for collection here (see the Random Things
section for details).
Though Future Perfect is quickly approaching 3 years out, and is
sadly forgotten and neglected by many after the loss of online play
support and the arrival of the next generation of console systems,
the FP mapmaker remains a true console-gaming gem that still offers
massive replay value, and always merits further exploration even
when you might think it may be tapped out; therefore I want to state
for the record that this guide will forever remain wide-open to
contribution, even at such a time when TS4 might eventually come out
with a superior mapmaker mode.  Right now, that time is still a long
way off.
Join me, fellow cartographers; this big empty grid world is ours...
====================================================================
Building Environments
====================================================================
The Basics (for beginners)
--------------------------
In order to get started here, we need to be speaking the same
language.  So first let's translate the in-game mapmaker visuals
into something that can be easily and accurately depicted here.
In the mapmaker, you must place tiles in the 40 x 40 x 5+ block grid
by looking at them in a two-dimensional view, from the top,
navigating up and down between a standard 5 levels but always
looking down over the top.  The tiles for the most part have certain
basic shapes, as seen in this Top View.
Top View (in-game shape):
large        large open,
open low     ramps, bridges     small      stair
most         _ _ _          _ _ _          room       room
corridors     |     |        |     |          _ _        _ _
_         |     |        |     |         |   |      |   |
|_|        |_ _ _|        |_ _ _|         |_ _|      |_ _|
After tiles are placed, press the appropriate button to bring up a
3/4 top-down view of the placement, with the placed tiles being
represented by white boxes and how they sit in relation to each
other within a three-floor area (shoulder buttons scroll through
which 3 floors of the grid, similar to the floor-scrolling within
the "placement" view).  The simplest way to illustrate tiles on
paper, however, is to think of them in side-view, and to show them
in side-view.  This view most clearly shows their basic differences.
Side View (this-guide shape):
large open,       small      stair
most         large       ramps, bridges     room       room
corridors     open low         _ _ _                      _ _
_           _ _ _         |     |          _ _       |   |
|_|         |_ _ _|        |_ _ _|         |_ _|      |_ _|
In this guide, the Stackable tiles will be represented by a "+" for
the bottom-most floor, so options are:
large
large       ramps, bridges     spiral
small     open(low)          _ _ _         stairs
_         _ _ _           |     |         _ _
|+|       |+ + +|          |+ + +|        |+ +|
To help ease you into the side-view language of this guide, here is
the simplest sort of map, made by joining 3 large open low tiles,
represented in side-view like so:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_ _ _|_ _ _|_ _ _|
The result is represented likewise in side-view here:
X|________P________|X
...with P denoting the Player standing in the middle of the map, the
open area above being the sky above the player's head (since the sky
feature is available, I like to try to utilize it).  The solid line
below is the floor, and the X's represent the walls created around
the placed tiles due to unmapped empty space within the computer
grid.
Joining tiles horizontally is much easier in TS:FP than in TS2, as
there is no required matching of red or blue linkages.  Here, any
wall-free edge of any tile will merge seamlessly with any wall-free
edge of any other tile; so many placement restrictions found in the
previous game have gone out the window.
Breaking out into a 3rd dimension, things start to get a little
complicated due to the sky feature.  Below are two examples using
"large open low" and "large open" tiles arranged in two different
ways, to demonstrate how the sky feature works.
(A)                           (B)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _                   _ _ _
|_ _ _|     |_ _ _|            _ _ _|     |_ _ _
|_ _ _|                 |_ _ _|_ _ _|_ _ _|
X|_____       _____|X         XXXXXXX|     |XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX|__P__|XXXXXXX         X|________P________|X
Note how the sky -- the open area above P -- is more visible in (A)
than in (B).  Think of the sky as "paint" on the ceiling of the
highest tile.  In (A), the ceilings of all 3 tiles are equally high,
so all 3 get painted with sky (this analogy does not do justice to
the effect, but the mechanics are the same).  In (B) however, the
ceiling of the middle tile is higher than the others, so only this
one gets the sky "paint job".  The two lower, flanking ceilings
become roofed over, and the empty spaces beside the upper floor of
the "large open" tile become wall -- just like walls appear around
the bottom floor in (A), which is essentially (B) inverted.
Making changes to maps where sky already exists can result in a loss
of formerly available sky, due to the "high gets the sky" rule.  For
instance, a tiny addition to (A) such as this:
_ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _|added|    will     XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX|     |X
|_ _ _|     |_ _ _|_ _ _|   result    X|_____       ___________|X
|_ _ _|              in this:   XXXXXXX|__P__|XXXXXXXXXXXXX
So that's how the sky works.
TS2 players may notice the absence of the Core tiles from the TS:FP
mapmaker.  The reason for there being no Core is that you can create
your own "core" areas by using the Stackable tiles.  The TS2 core
tile was only 4 floors high; but here you can make a 5-floor (and
even 7-floor) core, which presents the new possibility of death by
falling.  Though the map grid was 2 floors higher in TS2, at 7
"natural" floors, a plunge straight downwards was never possible
beyond a 3-floor drop in the 4-floor core.
"Stackable" essentially means "disappearing ceiling/floor," but the
ceilings and floors only disappear when stacked precisely on top of
an identically-shaped stackable tile.  So stacking this:
_ _ _
|+ + +|                    XXX|_____|X
_|+|_      will only get    XXX|_|XXXXX      (floor/ceiling
|+ + +|         you this:    X|__P__|XXX        separation
|   |                      XXX|   |XXX      at every level)
|+ +|                      XXX|___|XXX
However, when used correctly, the Stackables make possible the
construction of deep shafts, long zig-zagging valleys, or huge open
spaces.
open "mine shaft"         ->valley->                "quarry"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _              _ _ _ _             _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_ _ _|+|_ _ _|            |+|+|+|+|           |+ + +|+ + +|+ + +|
|+|                  |+|+|+|+|           |+ + +|+ + +|+ + +|
|+|                 |+ + +|+ + +|+ + +|
|+|_ _ _             |+|+|+|+|           |+ + +|+ + +|+ + +|
|+|_ _ _|            |+|+|+|+|           |+ + +|+ + +|+ + +|
X|__P__   _____|X               X|                 |X
XXXXXXX| |XXXXXXX               X|                 |X
XXXXXXX| |XXXXXXX               X|                 |X
XXXXXXX| |XXXXXXX               X|                 |X
XXXXXXX|_______|X               X|________P________|X
Note: a jump down the above 4-story mine shaft will kill the player.
You can gain an extra floor within the 5-story grid, and access that
floor at any time, by placing a Story AI. Put the AI in a single-
height tile on the 5th floor.  Put a second single-height tile on the
4th floor. Highlight both tiles ("mark"), grab the tile on the 4th
floor (I call this tile the "tugboat") and move it up to 5.  When
you do this, you are moving the highlighted 5th-floor tile to the 6th
floor -- I think of this tile as the "ship" that the "tugboat" is
moving.  Go to the Story AI menu, put the cursor on the placed AI,
and choose "Show in map" to go to the 6th floor.  Once on the 6th
floor you can place more tiles, items, etc. but once you scroll down
to another floor you will need to "show AI in map" again to get back
to 6.
Use of a "tugboat" to push tiles into the 7th floor or higher and
retrieve them again is the basis of "glitching."  I do not consider
the 6th floor AI trick to be in any way a glitch; it's just a
lesser-known game mechanic, a trick that overcomes the problem of
not being able to scroll up to the 6th floor in the first place; see
the Glitching section for details on real glitching.  When not
intentionally glitching though, be careful not to push single-height
tiles above 6.  Anything left above the 6th floor will not connect,
and therefore even a Stackable on 7 will automatically have a floor,
thus cutting off the sky at the 6th floor/7th floor juncture.  Player
travel between tiles above 6 can only be accomplished through
teleporter, but this can still be a useful feature if you want to
create a secret room in an indoor level that is not visible even
from the editor.  Also note that pushing the bottom of a double-
height tile from 5 to 6 will place the double-height tile on 6/7,
with free travel possible to/from 7 in an up/down direction; however
the top half of the tile will not connect to other tiles beside it
on 7.
Designing outdoor levels containing tall structures of any kind is
problematic, because any feature with height will be matched in
height by the perimeter wall put up by the computer (the quarry
effect).  Here B represents simple buildings:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
|+ + +|_|+ + +|
|+ + +|_|+ + +|
_ _ _ _ _ _ _                 |+ + +|_|+ + +|
|+ + +|_|+ + +|                |+ + +|_|+ + +|
|+ + +|_|+ + +|                |+ + +|_|+ + +|
_
X|     |B|     |X
X|     |B|     |X
X|     |B|     |X
X|     |B|     |X              X|     |B|     |X
X|__P__|B|_____|X              X|__P__|B|_____|X
Note that in such a quarry though, you can fashion crude edifices
and megalithic statues.  Doing so against a "cliff" wall spares some
memory, as Stackables are needed to create any empty space around
the creation, and Stackables can add up quickly and become quite
expensive to the memory.  Here, N's are Null tiles (vacant grid
space) used to create an edifice in combination with Stackables and
ordinary small tiles (quarry walls are not shown in the
representation illustrations):
man                skull               sphinx
(profile)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _       _ _ _ _ _ _ _       _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|+|_|_|N|_|_|+|     |+|N|N|N|N|N|+|     |N| |+|+|+ + +|
|+|N|N|N|N|N|+|     |+|N|_|N|_|N|+|     |N|N|+|+|+ + +|
|+|+|_|N|_|+|+|     |+|N|N|N|N|N|+|     |N| |+|+|+ + +|
|+|+|N|N|N|+|+|     |+|+|N|N|N|+|+|     |N|N|+|+|+ + +|
|+|+|N|_|N|+|+|     |+|+|_|_|_|+|+|     |N|N|N|N|+ + +|
_
O__|X|__O          |XXXXXXXXX|       |X|O
|XXXXXXXXX|         |X| |X| |X|       |X|X|
_|X|_            |XXXXXXXXX|       |X|_
|XXXXX|             |XXXXX|         |XXX|
_P_|X|_|X|___       _P_|D|D|D|___      |XXXXXXX|__P__
The O's are ornamental items in the man's hands and on top of the
sphinx's head, and D's are doorways at the skull's teeth.  Here's a
pic of the sphinx:
2810437
The more complicated the structure, the more difficult to visualize
and execute, especially given the restrictions of the top-down
placement visual and the 3-level-only 3/4 view in-game.  Also, the
tile sets can be limiting in creating imaginative yet sensible
outdoor constructions.  The best looking options for making
building-block statues would be Egyptian (take tile rotation into
consideration to avoid unwanted features), or Lab for a futuristic
sci-fi look.  While Horror has some nice stonework, you have to be
careful of paintings and wallpaper being hung in the great outdoors
(everything outdoors in Horror is better covered in the stone of
tile #27, which can be expensive to the memory.)
Before you start building your outdoor level, check out the sky
before you start placing tiles.  I had used the above sphinx in a
map, when I later realized it would be much more impressive with the
sun beaming over the quarry wall above it, visible from the starting
point; I had to flip it around the other way so the sun was in the
right position.  If you drag a select box over all the tiles in each
level, you can reorient an entire map very quickly.  If you ever
need to do this, be sure to save the map beforehand, because once
when I was doing this with a very large map, the game froze.
Stackables can be used in conjunction with ordinary tiles, or with
unmapped grid space, to create floating platforms:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _        _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|+ + +|_ _ _|+ + +|      |+ + +|+ + +|+ + +|
|+ + +|     |+ + +|      |+ + +|+ + +|+ + +|
|+ + +|_ _ _|+ + +|      |+ + +|N|N|N|+ + +|
|+ + +|+ + +|+ + +|      |+ + +|+ + +|+ + +|
|+ + +|+ + +|+ + +|      |+ + +|+ + +|+ + +|
X|      _____      |X     X|                 |X
X|                 |X     X|      _____      |X
X|      _____      |X     X|     |XXXXX|     |X
X|                 |X     X|                 |X
X|________P________|X     X|________P________|X
Using this feature in conjunction with building-block manipulation,
you may find it fun to fashion a hovering spacecraft:
construction view           top view        front view
(profile)              (ship only)      (ship only)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _       _ _ _   _ _
|+ + +|_|_|_|+|_|_|+ + +|     |XXXXX|_|X|_|       |XXXXX|
|+ + +|N|N|N|+|N|_|+ + +|     |XXXXX|XXX|_          |X|
|+ + +|+|+|N|N|N|+|+ + +|     |XXXXX| |X|_|
|+ + +|+|+|+|+|+|+|+ + +|
|+ + +|+|+|+|+|+|+|+ + +|
X|      _____   ___      |X    You could build diagonally too, for a
X|     |XXXXX| |X|_|     |X    simple delta wing or otherwise
X|         |XXXXX|       |X    "pointy" type craft.  Use platforms
X|                       |X    (floors, F) as opposed to blocks to
X|____P__________________|X    give the "wings" a sharp edge.
_ _ _ _ _
|FFFFFFFFF|
|FFFFFFF|
"B1" top view:     |FFFFF|
|FFF|
|F|
The engine nacelles of the first ship are a Null tile plus a small
corridor, opening to the rear. Use of internal lighting can help
convey an engine effect.  Pulsating "UFO" lights could be put on the
bottom too, especially on the second ship.
Constructs, or portions thereof, can be given a "paint job" by
manipulating the light within each tile along the surface of the
construct.  Some tile sets accept color changes better than others
though.*  Changing much color in Egyptian, if not a universal
change, results in the quarry walls and floor glitching out (a
discotheque effect), but not so in Military.  Note also that when in
the immediate vicinity, the Player and enemies turn that same color,
since it really is "light," and not paint (which is the drawback of
trying to paint an entire floor green for grass).
To get black (or as close as you can get to it), position the cursor
over any of the colors in the light color palette, and choose Edit.
You can custom-make colors my mixing red, blue and green.  Slide the
bottom brightness bar all the way to the left for the darkest color
possible.  The default darkest gray (top right corner of palette) is
not the darkest possible.  The tile will appear darker if it has no
"light source" within it (i.e., a light bulb or a torch as part of
the tile design).  For tall structures it is possible to hide quarry
walls in darkness to simulate an open sky on a moonless, overcast
night (choose Abstract sky).  Here B = Black lighting:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|     |+ + +|_|+ + +|     |     X|  B        |_|        B  |X
|+ + +|+ + +|N|+ + +|+ + +|     X|           |X|           |X
|     |+ + +|N|+ + +|     |     X|  B        |X|        B  |X
|+ + +|+ + +|N|+ + +|+ + +|     X|           |X|           |X
|+ + +|+ + +|N|+ + +|+ + +|     X|__B__      |X|      __B__|X
|+ + +|N|+ + +|           XXXXXXX|__P__|X|_____|XXXXXXX
It is also possible to make "sky-walls" through glitching, but this
takes much memory due to the number of overlapped tiles required
(see the Glitching section, and Further Reading).
*Noted lighting problems may be unique to the Gamecube version, as I
haven't seen them duplicated during my limited experimentation on
XBOX.  To correct a similar lighting problem in Horror on Gamecube,
resetting all the lights after the map was finished, then adding the
lighting elements as the final step eliminated any disco effects.
Also, in one instance deleting a window that separated a white and a
black light was seen to help in Horror (no solution has yet worked
for me in Gamecube's Egyptian).
Doors and Teleporters
---------------------
Doors can be placed along floating Stackables, either for decorative
use, or to serve a purpose (hiding a drop-off from an unsuspecting
player, or to construct vertical ventilation shafts on a wall or
chutes in the air).
Teleporters can be used to provide the illusion of added height to
an environment, especially for indoor levels.  Use of doors or
lighting can help facilitate this illusion, as darkness or doors can
hide any dissimilarity between points A and B.
Here is a small teleporter trick, with T being a single pair of
teleporters and D's being doors on either side of each:
Bottom floor.                    Top floor.
Teleporter input               Teleporter output
_ _ _                          _ _ _
P->|_DTD_|                        |_DTD_|->P
(left door always unlocked,        (left door always locked,
right door always locked)       right door always unlocked)
The door is "unlocked" when the Player touches the glowing
teleporter orb.  Message actions can help with the suspension of
disbelief in Story maps.  For instance, upon reaching the 1st
teleporter tile, a message "Please submit to scanning" could be
displayed, and at the 2nd teleporter tile, "Access granted" could be
displayed.
Platforming
-----------
Add some thrills to your level by adding in some platforming
elements.  Make some raised tiles join diagonally, so that the
Player on top must walk diagonally across them.  At first it may
seem impossible within some tile sets, but if the aiming reticule is
placed precisely over the necessary crossing point, it is very
possible, even enabling navigation between diagonally-placed death
trap tiles.
The Player hoofing it can jump across a single grid square, but only
if the landing spot is 3 floors down.  A vehicle can cross a 1-
square gap if the landing spot is only 1 floor down.
A 4-story drop will kill the Player.  However, you can safely take a
6-story plunge (from a double-height stackable on 6/7) if driving a
vehicle.  If a necessary drop is 4 floors or more, and there's no
vehicle, well, you'll need to jump into an inertia-dampening
teleporter.  Now THAT's a thrill.  OR, put a vehicle at the bottom
and try to land on those soft plush seats (hit the "enter vehicle"
button at the last second, for the regular climbing-in animation).
Due to the limited falling distance in the grid, a pedestrian will
not be able to jump a two-square gap in Story mode (in other modes
it is possible, using the Speed pickup).  The military buggy (Zeep)
can jump a 3-square gap, and the turbo buggy can jump a 4-square
gap, provided the height is right.  The Zeep can make it across 4
death trap tiles, though, if you nose it down and bounce over the
last one, so maybe the buggy can do that over 5 (haven't tried).
Leaping across a death trap tile is possible.  Trying to jump one
with a vehicle gives inconsistent results, though.  If you try to
jump multiple rows of death tiles and the result is death as soon as
you get the vehicle above the first death tile, remove the first
death tile and you should be fine to make it over the rest.  You can
also try placing the problem death trap tile lastly to correct this
problem.
Progression puzzles based on platforming can be quite fun to design,
and you can make some nifty puzzles by requiring use of the cat-cam
to do stuff...
The Amazing Strudel
-------------------
Unlike the vehicles, the cat-cam can jump the Ramp items you can
place within the tiles (as seen in the sample map Cat Racing
Xtreme), and can go backwards up the steep slide tile.  It can go
super fast to potentially beat a timer, provided the flooring is
right and there are no bumps or snags (maybe you want the bumps and
snags for a timer challenge).
In Story and Assaults modes, Strudel counts as you during operation,
so Location Reached logics can be activated (say you want to
activate an out-of-reach pressure-plate).  In any mode, unlocked
doors will be toggled by proximity (maybe an out-of-reach door needs
to be opened so that a camera can spot you, or maybe you just need
to get a clear shot at something that you can't hit without Strudel
opening the door.  Make the door no-autoclose so that Strudel can
leave and do something else -- or not!).
The cat-cam can go through a death trap tile, but getting out is a
matter dependent upon tile set and tile arrangement.  With enough
distance you can get up enough speed to bounce off a spike and out
of the recessed area, but note that in Story mode, Cortez can easily
toss the cam over to the other side of a death trap with the uplink,
eliminating a potential quagmire.  Hitting the "operate cam" button
while holding Strudel in mid air will both operate and launch at the
same time (those of you who peeked at the Awards logic of Cat Racing
Xtreme may have figured that out).  Strudel can easily navigate
diagonally-placed death trap tiles without falling into the recessed
area.
Strudel cannot touch enemies while under your control, and enemies
will pay her no attention... but she can relocate moveable items
(including other Strudels!) by pushing them, and can blow up
explosive items by ramming them at high speed, thus destroying
switches or killing an out-of-reach baddie.
Strudel is not affected by gunfire, but collectible spent ammo
(injector darts and harpoons) can be shot into her and transported
to another location for later pick-up.
She can serve as an explosive assassin by delivering remote mines
placed on her back (Ryan_the_gamer, 7/28/2006) but she is quite
blast-proof.  The world will not shake in the vicinity of explosions
while controlling her, but she *can* be toppled by the flying side
of beef that might come from the unfortunate end of someone nearby.
Last but not least, she can be manipulated as a last or only-resort
weapon in Story mode, by flinging her with the temporal uplink.
Altissimus Factum: the Environmental Puzzle
-------------------------------------------
Something that you might try to do in Story and Assault maps, and
even in multiplayer maps to spice up the cat-and-mouse between live
opponents, is to devise what I can only call an environmental puzzle
-- an action, or series of actions, that the player must perform in
order to progress, or in order to get the upper hand by obtaining a
coveted but hard-to-get weapon.  Some brainwork on the part of the
player should be required in order to figure out the puzzle, and it
is something that can work in multiplayer because the only logic
utilized is that which the player will hopefully use.  What's good
about environmental puzzles is that they do *not* require game
Logic, so they take no additional memory to set up.  Even after the
player figures out the puzzle and the EUREKA! moment is gone
forever, the presence of these mandatory tasks adds variety to the
level, providing different things that the player must do.
Here is an example of a multiple-part environmental puzzle, that
might not be easy to figure out quickly while under fire in a
multiplayer mode, but it would be well suited for a quiet portion of
a lengthy Story mission: Player starts on the 5th floor and has to
jump off a cliff to the 1st floor to progress further in the level,
so a car is needed to survive the fall.  The only car available is
on a ledge on the 6th floor that the player cannot reach; the only
way to get the car is to blow it off the ledge with explosives.
Explosives are on the other side of a chasm, behind an unlocked door
(maybe you can see them by operating a camera), so you just cannot
suck them over with the uplink because the door is closed.  The only
way to open the door so that you can reach the explosives with the
uplink is to jump over the chasm with a cat and open up the door by
proximity of the cat to the door...  So you have to do things A, B,
and C, just to get to the 1st floor.
In modes other than Story, Powerups can be used as elements of the
puzzle.  These contain built-in timers (they last for exactly 25
seconds), so requiring the use of a Powerup before it wears off can
be a good part of the puzzle (say, the player needs to do a number
of things while powered up, or, a single thing to do like jump a gap
with Speed is very far away from the Powerup).  Also, for non-
essential side-tasks, a limited opportunity can be given for success
(e.g., a required weapon, like a sci-fi handgun that can ricochet
around the corner to complete a secondary objective, has a re-spawn
time of 0:00 and no ammo placement).  Note that anything *necessary*
for mission completion/winning (Story/Assault) should *always* be
accompanied with opportunity for re-trying (e.g., any necessary car-
jump to the exit should have a road leading back to the jump point
from the "oops" zone).  A Story/Assault level that cannot be
completed due to an "oops" is a flawed level.
====================================================================
The Mysteries of Memory, Revealed (more or less)
====================================================================
Beginners and veteran mapmakers alike are often confronted by space
limitations, as there is only so much you can do in one map.
However, the memory bar in the top left corner of the screen is
deceptive in its depiction of remaining memory.  Misconceptions and
false assumptions about this bar have resulted in many a map being
"finished" prematurely, and have even resulted in a supposed
"Mapmaker Memory Glitch" being circulated, which has been mistakenly
claimed to enable the placement of more tiles and items than
normally possible.
Here is the rub of the memory bar: the one bar is used as an
indicator of at least two separate memories, not just one.  There is
a TILE memory, and also an ITEM memory.  The single bar only shows
WHICH of the two memories is lowest.  For instance, if the TILE
memory is at half, you can then add items until the ITEM memory gets
down to half, and the single memory indicator will not move at all
beyond the halfway mark.  Once you get lower than half of the ITEM
memory though, the bar will start getting shorter again, because
ITEM memory is now lower.  And vice versa.  If when the one bar is
threateningly empty, you try to place one more tile and get a "no
more memory" message, you still might have plenty of ITEM memory
left.  And if you get the message when you are trying to place
another item, you may in fact still have plenty more TILE memory
left.
ITEM Memory
-----------
In addition to this confusion, some "items" in the item menu do not
take memory away from the bar(s) at all; these are the various start
points (start all, red team, blue team, blue assault, red assault).
32 start points can be placed (any combination of all/red/blue) and
in addition 32 assault starts can be placed (any combination of red
and blue), independently of the TILE/ITEM memory indicator.  When
both the TILE memory AND the ITEM memories are empty, you can still
place a ridiculous number of start points! Separate from any start
points, 50 "real" items can be placed to take the ITEM memory bar
down to zero.  Any "real" item placed, be it a vehicle or a box of
bullets, consumes 1/50 of the ITEM memory. However, placing many
different *kinds* of items will reduce this number to 44 and will
also eat greatly into the TILE memory... It is a complicated affair,
but suffice it to say that you cannot ever take the single memory
display at face value.
Although you can almost always place 50 total items (in addition to
any start points), most individual items carry a lower cap on how
many can be placed in a map.  Here are the item placement caps:
Guns: 32
Health: 16
Armor: 16
*Powerups: 12
Bags and bases: 1 bag and 1 of each base (duh)
Gun turrets: 8
Switches: 20
Autoguns: 8
Ceiling cameras: 8
Moveable objects (any): 20
Cars: 4
RC Pets: 4
Each color key: 2 (total 8 keys)
Zones: 4
Features (any): (no cap, can place 50)
Doors: 40
Windows: 30
Collectible (from Trigger menu): 32
*It should be noted that Powerups will not appear if map is played
in Story mode :(
For Story mode maps, choosing the Drop Gun option for Story AI and
placing any keys in AI inventory will NOT detract from the ITEM
memory; it is then recommended that for strictly Story mode levels,
guns and keys be obtained in this manner so you can still place 50
other items.  Note that it must literally be a "gun" for it to be
dropped (AI will not drop grenades, mines, bats, or bricks).
TILE Memory
-----------
While each item takes the same amount of ITEM memory space (2.0%),
tiles on the other hand consume varying amounts of the TILE memory.
The simplest tiles you can place the most of, at a maximum of 200
(0.50% of the TILE memory). Below is a list of the individual tiles
and the approximate memory consumption for each (enough digits are
shown to tell which is "bigger" in the memory).  Maximizing map
"volume" can be accomplished by incorporating tiles of the same or
larger volume that consume less equivalent memory.  For instance,
substitute a #31 where possible for any #13, and you can economize
greatly on the TILE memory.
Corridor
1. Small Open....................0.50%
2. Small Open Pillars............0.50%
3. Small Open Alt................0.50%
4. Small Open Alt. Pillars.......0.50%
5. T Junction....................0.50%
6. T Junction Pillars............0.50%
7. Corner........................0.50%
8. Corner Pillars................0.50%
9. Small Corridor................0.50%
10. Double Corridor...............0.50%
11. Open Corridor.................0.64%
Large
12. Large Open....................1.55%
13. Large Open Low................1.17%
14. Large Bridge Cross............1.54%
15. Large Bridge..................1.58%
16. Large Pit.....................1.06%
17. Large Bridge Ramp.............1.58%
Small
18. T Junction....................0.59%
19. Funnel........................0.50%
20. Small Room....................0.50%
21. Small Room Mirrored...........0.50%
Ramp
22. Ramp..........................0.50%
23. Crab Ramp.....................0.90%
24. Stair Room....................0.51%
25. Stair Room Mirrored...........0.51%
26. Large Ramp....................1.92%
Stackable
27. Small Open S..................0.50%    Stairwells must be
28. Alt. Small Open S.............0.50%    stacked with matching
29. Stairwell S...................0.97%